Christmas present ideas please

**sandy64** · 29-10-2011, 11:48 AM

hi i no its early but sat down thinking of different ideas for presents for lo to make. As kids finish for xmas with me on 16 december it seems so early this year and not much time to cram all the fun xmas bits we make as well. i need somethink easy that they can do lo range from 11mths to 4yrs ive done canvas's, calendars,candles, photo frames last few yrs with the older 3. so looking for anythink different any ideas would be appreciated thanks.

**Maza** · 29-10-2011, 01:17 PM

I'm thinking of giving them some home made playdough in a few different colours, putting in a nice 'gifty' sort of wrapping/container and adding a cutter.

**PixiePetal** · 29-10-2011, 01:18 PM

I often bake biscuits and make basket to put them in. Or fudge/truffles

they can all help depending on capabilities from making to decorating or sticking sequins on a basket

I have seen some small photo frame tree decorations which I will put a photo in too and use as a gift tag on the basket

this year I have an almost 1 and almost 3 yr old siblings so might do a joint gift for parents

I usually just keep repeating myself

Crafty crocodiles had some pen pots to decorate - they went down well last year too.

**LeeMarie** · 29-10-2011, 04:15 PM

Last year we made coasters and place mats. The kids painted/decorated the paper. I wrote hand made by x aged xx on the back and then laminated them. I've also planted hyacinth bulbs before with the children and they've decorated the plant pots and/or made stick decorations (included a photo of each lo on it) to add to the pot.

**sandy64** · 29-10-2011, 05:39 PM

thanks for your ideas its good to hear different things like the hyacinth and plant pot, also the photo on stick to go in plant, i would do sweets/biscuits but it will still be 10 days to xmas when they finish so wouldnt be edible lol thankyou

**rosebud** · 29-10-2011, 08:02 PM

I did mini photo albums one year with 2 year olds. They decorated about 10 A5 sized pages with xmas sponges and xmas colour paints and then when dry chose photos of themselves and stuck one on each page. I laminated the pages and then used treasure tags to join them together. It wasn't cheap but did make very personal presents for their parents and they loved making them, it filled up a whole week too.

**Dragonfly** · 30-10-2011, 03:27 PM

What about printing out "The night before christmas" and making a scroll of it? and the children decorating around the verse if you know what i mean.Or putting it in a frame that they have painted/ and decorated.

**Chatterbox Childcare** · 30-10-2011, 03:29 PM

We are making chocolates for the parents this year and a hand print calendar.

I went to Lidl and got two chocolate moulds last week, one round and one square. All the children can make them and then we will use white chocolate to swirl over the top before turning them out.

The under 5's are starting this week to make a calendar from handprints. I got this idea 2 years ago and it is great.

**WibbleWobble** · 30-10-2011, 04:44 PM

my lot all made boxes from card and decorated them

we then made microwave fudge to put in...went down very well with parents as it was lovely

mandy xxxx

**sandy64** · 30-10-2011, 06:17 PM

thanks some great ideas

**jadavi** · 30-10-2011, 06:23 PM

Ooo! Can you share your microwave fudge recipe with us?

**WibbleWobble** · 30-10-2011, 07:24 PM

http://www.*****.com/family-food/r...-recipes/fudge

this is the one we use...it is hot but the older ones liked the measuring...and everone liked the end results!

mandy xxx

**Rachel1983** · 30-10-2011, 07:30 PM

my fav activity is to papermache old wellies... then decorate them with paint, glitter and tissue paper.... then fill them with treats for the childrens parents that they make over the last few days beofre xmas....

messy but great fun and lasts longer than a day

**Bear23** · 30-10-2011, 08:02 PM

Originally Posted by Rachel1983

my fav activity is to papermache old wellies... then decorate them with paint, glitter and tissue paper.... then fill them with treats for the childrens parents that they make over the last few days beofre xmas....

messy but great fun and lasts longer than a day

Thats a great idea x

**Lilylulu** · 31-10-2011, 08:36 PM

We made DVD's of the children for mothers day - used all the best photo's we had - (we take lots!) the children chose the music from a selection we offered and made a few pictures which we also used a slides for the movie. We put it in a CD case decorated by the children. It was a fair bit of work but cost very little. It was so well received tho - a few mums told us they watched it and cried

we plan to do another for christmas, its a great way of passing on the photo's without a huge cost for printing too

I also got those tree decorations that hold a photograph (I think they were from poundland last year) - we never managed to find time last year so will start earlier this year) - nice idea to use them as a gift tag.

**miffy** · 31-10-2011, 09:38 PM

The works had some lovely chocolate moulds at the weekend.

Last year Home Bargains had some character cake moulds - snowman, christmas tree etc - not too big, nice for a sponge cake lo's could decorate.

Miffy xx

**sandy64** · 02-11-2011, 06:51 PM

[QUOTE=annsplace;1003824]We made DVD's of the children for mothers day - used all the best photo's we had - (we take lots!) the children chose the music from a selection we offered and made a few pictures which we also used a slides for the movie. We put it in a CD case decorated by the children. It was a fair bit of work but cost very little. It was so well received tho - a few mums told us they watched it and cried

we plan to do another for christmas, its a great way of passing on the photo's without a huge cost for printing too

thats a great idea only problem i wouldnt no how to do it lol thanks for the super ideas ive wrote them all down and now just need to decide thanks.
p.s how long will fudge last for????

**uf353432** · 02-11-2011, 07:09 PM

last year we made xmas decorations from clay or aqua beads and suspended them in plastic transparent balls to hang on their xmas tree. We also got church candles, melted crayons over a tea light candle and drew on the church candles with melted crayon wax - very effective and if you spuervise even the smallest can have a go.

Another nice one to do is flavoured oils - like chillis and garlic etc. in glass bottles.

I like the fudge idea and I think we'll do that this year - but not though of what else I will do with them yet so will watch this thread to get more idea's

**uf353432** · 02-11-2011, 07:10 PM

if you like the idea of something foody - and you wanted to start doing it now - you could always help the kids to make mini xmas cakes - they will keep really well and you could start making them now.

**maisiemog** · 02-11-2011, 08:29 PM

This year were making and decorating boxes to put fudge and homemade chocolates in.

I am also doing handprints on a canvas for my under 5s as well with one of the lovely handprint poems on it (just havent decided which one yet!!)

We're also making stained glass window biscuits, and probably salt dough tree decorations as well! I think that should be enough!